STREAMWOOD -- Crystal Lake South, who romped to a pair of nonconference victories early this week, earned a hard-fought 1-0 road win over Streamwood on Thursday afternoon at Millenium Field.

"This was a great test for us today," said Gators manager Brian Allen, who watched his men beat Grant (6-2) and Hononegah (4-0) prior to its success against Matt Polovin's club. "We played one of the best at possession and technical skill and style, and if we make a deep run in the AA state tournament, this is the type of quality opponent we should expect to play."

Streamwood felt it benefited from the nonconference match too.

"It was a good game for us to have this early in the season," began Polovin, the Sabres manager. "It was pretty much like last year when we played them at their place.

"They sat in on us, defended really well as a team, looked to counter, and really made us work for everything. It was a good experience for our guys."

With both sides clear on what tactics to deploy, it was obvious from the onset that the visitors were prepared to soak up the pressure the home side would apply and asked its backline to stay organized with those in front of them willing to run, defend, win balls and attempt to keep most the play in the midfield.

"(Streamwood) is so skilled and confident on the ball, we knew that beforehand," Allen said. "But it still was such a drastic difference of style's compared to what we saw in our two previous games.

"The concern was we might have heavy legs after playing two games in two days. Guys like Ryan Coughlin gave us so much energy and helped make us go all afternoon, showing why he's been such a strong player and leader for us during his four-year varsity career."

"We knew what Streamwood would bring today, but the difference today was we all worked, and worked hard from start to finish," said senior Jack Wruck, the scoring hero for the Gators.

Wruck and his mates endured a blistering Sabres attack which featured, Jesus Limon and Jorge Bracamontes up-top, and midfielder Bryan Mora, who set the tempo with several pinpoint passes that helped the home side navigate its way through a congested Gators backline.

"What we do well is what you saw today: possess well, move the ball quickly, and keep on attacking," said Polovin. "But the one thing we didn't do well was have enough bite in the final third, which comes from guys being a little selfish when we get into the box."

The backline of Crystal Lake South -- Brandon Wilson, Nick Langdon, Evan Carlson and Andrew Edge -- defended will all its might whenever the Sabres came at it and along with their midfield mates neutralized the 80-percent plus possession rate of the home side.

"We see something like this when we play Dundee-Crown, but Streamwood has to be one of the best at holding the ball and moving it around, so it was kind of a 'Bend don't break' defense for us today," said Allen.

Despite holding onto the ball far more than its opponents, the Sabres (1-1-0) fould themselves chasing the lead in the 22nd minute when a sensational individual effort from the aforementioned Wruck ended in spectacular fashion.

That's when Alex Canfield, who scored braces in the Gators' opening victories, and whom Allen feels can be an all-state candidate, combined with Wruck to put the Sabres under some severe pressure.

Wruck found himself in position to unload a wicked shot on frame only to see it blocked on the way in. But it boomeranged back to a willing Wruck, who then unloaded an unstoppable missile into the back of the net.

"If Jack's first shot isn't blocked (it's) going in," said Canfield, who had a birds-eye view of his mates two attempts at Streamwood keeper Hector Alfaro, who along with his counterpart Matt McCaleb enjoyed a solid day between the sticks.

Streamwood did not fold up the tent following the Wruck goal. The Sabres came back at the Gators with the force of a tornado. The surge began with two chances from Leo Magana, one of which McCaleb stayed with when it dipped at the end of its flight from 25-yards.

Sophomore Jose Ibarra, clearly one of the top centerbacks in this half of the state if not the entire state, came foward on a Sabres free kick and headed wide at 28 minutes.

Michael Rubio's defense-splitting early ball sent Limon through, and if not for a fearless challenge off his line by McCaleb, the Sabres senior would have had the Gators keeper all to himself.

"McCaleb had a very good game for us, saving a couple of dangerous chances by Streamwood while working really well together with his backline," said a proud Allen.

Ryan Coughlin nearly surprised Alfaro and the home side when he won a ball just inside the midline, looked up to see that Alfaro had ventured far off his line and then fired a long, curling attempt just wide of the post.

With the wind at its back and a little more urgency in its step after the break, Streamwood went about getting even.

A quick and clever restart from Rolando Martinez and Limon forced Coughlin to parry out of the area any potential trouble in the 58th minute. The senior was at it again after a nice bit of combination play from Edwin Peralta, Fernando Mancera and Bracamontes.

McCaleb was at his best in the 71st minute when his reaction save off a one-timer from in-close from Mora would have gotten the Sabres back level if not for the keeper's superb effort.

Allen kept fresh legs coming and going throughout. It was that decision that may have been the difference, particularly in the middle of the park where Ricky Cristante, Sabien Raymond, Tom Coughlin others off the bench hunted down the Sabres attack before it could get an extra head of steam.

"It all starts with our backine, Langdon, Edge and Carlson have eight years of experience, while Wruck (2018 all-FVC) and Cristante are true warriors in the middle for us," said Allen.

"Like I said before, it's all about putting the work in during training, then coming out and doing the same thing in our games," added Wruck.

The Gators, 14-6-2 a year ago, will get some much needed rest before opening play at the Sanchez Memorial next Wednesday afternoon against Palatine, while Streamwood begins preparation for the high-profile Barrington Classic tournament beginning on Monday.

"You always want to win every game, but as I told the guys, you would be hard pressed to find a state champion that didn't suffer a few losses during the season. We move on from today and get ready for our tourney opener with Conant," began Polovin, whose men also play Marmion and Boylan in group play.

"There was a lot to like from this game, but we also know that we'll face teams that will play the way Brian's team did in order to try to slow our attack down.

"Hopefully the guys found out the only way to break down a team that sits in and defends so well is to play quicker, using more width, and to attack the goal and put a few shots on frame."

"If we continue to work and can do those things, we'll be in good shape when it really counts in that last half of the season."